Drabble Challenge: Day 23

    Believe it or not, I am still trying to finish this thing. Jandy's a bit too interesting for me to just abandon, so I shall strive onwards. We'll see how many more I manage before I run up into NaNo. Four days, folks.

    I should really finish outlining, shouldn't I? I'm on chapter ten, at least.

    We're also continuing right off the last scribble, just FYI as it's been a couple of days.


    Drabble Challenge: Day 23 (late) - thousand
    Word Count: 1,490    Minimum Goal: 1,380

    It felt good to be clean again. Really good. There wasn’t a lot to be said for sitting in the same pair of clothes for several days, let alone it being the same outfit one had sat in a smoky bar with.
    Something felt different, though. Her mind felt sharper, no longer struggling to focus on one thing or another. There were clear lines now, between the memories she’d been reliving and the things that had happened to her recently. The facts were also setting in.
     If Jandy ever got her hands on the project overseer, she would be giving him a brutal first, and last, lesson in street fighting. As a thank you for all the fancy tricks he’d had drilled into her and Jane before he let her die.
     The shift in her mindset must’ve shown on her features, because when Jandy finished dressing in the scrubs—rough fabric, dark color, supremely uncomfortable—and turned her attention on them, both the women seemed to straighten up from their former at-attention-but-bored postures.
    “Whenever you two are ready,” she said, the corner of her mouth lifting in a humorless smirk. 
    My name is Jandy Sparks, you took my sister from me, then had the nerve to pretend it never happened. Who I am now is whom you made me to be and the consequences will be your own fault.
    There was no reply to her statement, just movement. The shorter of her two bodyguards took point, the other paced along behind, with Jandy situated between them. She didn’t know what was going to happen in the next hours, but now she was ready.

//
//

    A strong arm braced across her shoulders and collarbone to pull her away and then to her feet after while the white-coated doctors extracted Jane from her grip. Jandy couldn’t even summon the strength to try and fight, to ward them off, numbness spreading through her from the gaping emptiness in her mind.
    Jane’s name turned over and over in her mind. God, please, no. No. No, no, no. Not Jane.
    The hold on her shoulders was the only thing that kept her from falling back to her knees. 

//
//

    Warren was waiting for her arrival in a pristine lab where multiple monitors were already up and running, surrounding an operating table. An identical set up was on the other side of the room, and a woman in a white coat was typing away at a computer in between the two, her blonde hair tied back in a ponytail and her focus entirely on her work. For now, at least. Two assistants were assembling trays of what appeared to be surgical instruments, one on either side of the room and working with near-silent efficiency. 
    Jandy felt her stomach twist in apprehension. She didn’t remember this part. It was only Jane coming back and there was nothing in white laboratory/operating room that had resurfaced yet.
    “What is this?” She questioned, stopping only three steps inside the space, dark gaze flicking to the man responsible for everything. The anger that swelled was quelled—but Jandy could still feel it, bubbling inside of her.
    “Doctor Hummel has informed me that, if I wish to have any hope of reconnecting your mind to another’s, it must be done sooner, rather than later. It took some time to find a suitable and compatible candidate, but now that one has been selected, Doctor Hummel has been given the green light to proceed.” Mr. Warren explained in drawn out tons, seated in what looked to be the most comfortable chair in the room. 
    She took a step back out of base instinct, able to remember the muddle of her connection to Jane, the confusion, the pain, and eventual death that it had brought. Jane had taken more than a small portion of Jandy’s heart with her when she’d died and Jandy refused to go through that again. “No. You’ve already screwed around in my head enough. You’re not getting another shot at it.”
    One brow arched, as if he was genuinely interested in what she had to say. “I don’t see you have a choice, 2-13. If you will, please step over to the table. Doctor Hummel is quite anxious to begin and your selected partner should be here shortly.”
    A tight grip on Jandy’s shoulder kept her from getting any further away than she already had. A glance behind her confirmed that it was one of her two escorts, the woman’s blue eyes expressionless boring into hers. Deciding to ignore the soldier, Jandy focused on Warren again, who was watching the proceedings with waning patience. 
    Nothing was coming to mind. She didn’t know what to say to keep herself off that table. Jane had always had the words. Jane had always been the bright one, the one who’d finished school and even taken some night classes. Not her. Not Jandy, who’d barely finished high school and who’d devoted her life to just making sure her little sister was cared for and, most importantly, safe.
    It still haunted her, some of the things she’d done to achieve that goal. But she didn’t regret it. 
    I took on people like Dad’s old friends. I can take on whoever Warren plans to throw at me. Jandy took in a breath and pulled away from the strong hold on her jacket. 
    “Fine.” She said, moving across the room towards Warren in a few quick strides, dark brown gaze narrowed as she came close. “You want me to play ball? I’ll play ball. Just don’t regret it later down the road.” You have no idea what I have already proven myself capable of.
    The program’s overseer didn’t seem overly impressed, forget intimidated, by her announcement. It didn’t matter. Jandy turned away from him and went to sit on the edge of the cold, steel table. 
    The doctor finished her work and came over, brow furrowed deeply in thought as she took Jandy’s chin in hand and twisted her head to the side in the fashion of one not accustomed to working with live subjects all too often. Grimacing, Jandy let her do as she wanted, watching the nearest corner with too much interest.
    “Who on earth did you get to do the incisions last time; Doctor Frankenstein?” Hummel muttered, not loud enough for Warren to overhear while prodding at the back of her patient’s neck. She smelled like antiseptic and sterilized equipment, not a fun combination.
    Jandy had to restrain a caustic reply to her question, rotating her jaw when the other woman finally released her. “Everything to your satisfaction, Doc?”
    No amusement appeared on Hummel’s features as she went to the nearby counter and pulled open one of the upper cabinets, revealing something that reminded Jandy of a fancy wine-cooler, made of glass and with racks inside, but the name of it escaped her. 
    “Lay with your stomach down.” The doctor ordered, and when Jandy opened her mouth to protest – how on earth was that supposed to work, what with them trying to jiggle with her brain – a bolster was handed to her by one of the assistants.
    Not bothering with a thank you, Jandy studied the foam block, forgetting Doctor Hummel’s activities for the time being, before setting it on the operating table approximately where her head would be. She shifted around to get into position, the pit in her stomach growing larger with each passing moment. It would be a bit of a day-ruiner if she hurled everywhere. But amusing in the aftermath.
    The bolster had her head at an angle, with the back of it towards where Doctor Hummel still sifted through all her supplies. She could really only use one eye, the other too close to the table to be of much use. 
    “Manzano, go find out where Scott is at. I wanted him here ten minutes ago. Part of this process is synchronization and one has to be present for that.” Warren’s voice came, disembodied somewhere ahead of Jandy. The sound of the door being opened and shut again came a few moments later. 
    “I am prepared to administer anesthesia,” Hummel announced not long after Warren issued his command. 
    Jandy closed her eyes, letting out a quiet breath.

//

    “Just count backwards from a thousand,” Jane instructed, attempting to be brave but a wobble was detectable on her voice. “It’ll help you take your mind off the pain.”
    She managed a grimaced smile, fingers clamped down over the wound to her shoulder. “Isn’t it supposed to be backwards from ten?”
    “That’s usually for anesthesia, when you’re about to pass out. I haven’t got any of that for you.”

//


    Humor flickered through her thoughts before there was a steady “do it” from Warren and the touch of a cold swab met the skin of her arm. Then a needle stung, bright, flaring, and before Jandy could reach nine-hundred-eighty-nine, darkness swallowed her. 


    You know, if I were asked where all Jandy's seemingly new-found strength, determination, and will power has come from, I'd say it'd come from remembering about Jane. While Jane was alive, she was what drove Jandy to new heights (or lows..?). Either way, to be stronger. Now that she's remembering Jane, she's starting to remember that old strength that she used to have. Jane is gone, but she can still fight for her memory. 

    Hm. Well. Yeah, that's what I've got. I may go write some more and see if I can get another day scribbled out or not.

    Thanks for hanging with me, folks. Still working to get back on top of everything, but I'm a good deal closer than I was three days, let's just put it that way.

    Oh, and did anyone catch the name? Mwuaha. 

    Ad astra per aspera.
    To the stars, through difficulties.